Nite Songs Top 70 Albums of 2024 - Part 6 (20-11)

 

We're very much in the upper echelons of the list now - the Top 10's coming tomorrow but let's go through those who just missed out on the very top tier - our Top 20 albums of the year.

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20.    ST VINCENT - "All Born Screaming"

I'll admit to being something of a late convert to St Vincent but All Born Screaming quickly changed all that. It may be pop music on the surface but it doesn't take much of a scratch underneath (as far as just reading the song titles to be honest) to work out that it's coming at you from a much darker angle and the likes of Hell Is Near, Big Time Nothing and Violent Times are truly gripping stuff that'll haul you straight back in for a second listen once you've finished this album.

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19.    LAURA JANE GRACE - "Hole In My Head"

Hole In My Head might just be Laura Jane Grace's strongest album to date. Similar to its predecessor, 2020's Stay Alive and the 2021 At War With The Silverfish EP, it's stripped back acoustic punk rock wearing its heart on its sleeve, similar to Frank Turner at his best and the likes of Punk Rock In Basements, Tacos and Toast and the superb album highlight Dysphoria Hoodie have a fist-aloft honesty to them that's near impossible to resist. A triumph of an album.

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18.    JUKEBOX HEADACHES - "Wigston Deli"

Wigston Deli does what every good second album should by taking the best parts of Jukebox Headaches' double album debut Balkan Telescope and building on them to great effect. Taking in fizzing Europop, killer guitar hooks and tunes which would be surefire hits in the hands of a more commercially fortunate artist, Jonny, Jez and their collaborators have well and truly excelled themselves with this one. Get yourself a copy and get this band's name out there where it deserves to be.

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17.    BOB VYLAN - "Humble As The Sun"

Although Humble As The Sun sees a bit of refinement going on, that white hot anger that made Bob Vylan such a breath of fresh air when they broke through a few years ago certainly hasn't dissipated at all. Still burning with a sense of unapologetic fury and injustice, tunes like Get Yourself A Gun, Hunger Games and He's A Man dare to stand up and question the bullshit we're fed day in day out on this septic isle of ours before pulling out a flamethrower and burning the whole rotten edifice to the ground.

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16.    THE THE - "Ensoulment"

A new album from Matt Johnson definitely wasn't something I was expecting in 2024 but it's to Ensoulment's credit that it stands up with the best of his work from the 1980s. Casting a caustic eye over the modern climate, the likes of Kissing The Ring of POTUS, Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave of William Blake and I Hope You Remember (The Things I Can't Forget) prove that while Johnson may have been away for many years, he certainly hasn't lost a step in terms of sharpness. Comeback of the year? Could well be.

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15.    WILLIE DOWLING - "The Simpleton"

Now going solo following the return of his long time musical partner Jon Poole to the Wildhearts, The Simpleton sees Willie Dowling musing on the horrors of modern life as only he can. Caustic and angry, Dowling's writing may be fuelled by rage a lot of the time (as evidenced by The Gravy Train, Under The Gaslight and I Killed My Imaginary Friend)but he's smart enough to distil it into all sorts of different musical forms and it's this ability to keep you guessing that makes this an album you'll come back to time and again and still notice new stuff.

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14.    BEANS ON TOAST - "Wild Goose Chasers"

It's pretty much a given that any Nite Songs end of year list will feature a Beans on Toast album somewhere but that's simply because Jay McAllister is a great songwriter who deserves to be a lot better known than he is. Eschewing his usual acoustic guitar to be backed by Tensheds' Matt Millership on the piano, Wild Goose Chasers is an album steeped in folklore and its relationship with our lives today, veering from the disquiet of Boring Dystopia to the tale of finding joy in the everyday that is The Bee's Nest In My Pebbledash. Another slam dunk from McAllister.

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13.    DELILAH BON - "Evil Hate-Filled Female"

Delilah Bon is a rare talent indeed. Having staked out her ground in commanding style with her self-titled 2021 debut which flipped the nu-metal template on its head by replacing the knuckle-dragging misogyny with feminist anger, Evil Hate-Filled Female sees her ramping things up further but adding a sly sense of humour designed to wind up the humourless incels and straights to wicked effect on the likes of The Internet and I Am The Best (Just Ask Your Momma). In an age where the bad guys all too often appear to be winning effortlessly, artists like Delilah who have the guts to stand up to them deserve to be treasured. 

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12.    THE CHESTERFIELD KINGS - "We're Still All The Same"

Well I definitely didn't expect this. Over a decade after they split, the Chesterfield Kings' reformation and comeback seemed to pass under a lot of people's radars but We're Still All The Same carries on the good run of form they were on back in the noughties, mixing garage rock and psychedelia together in a way that's unquestionably retro but still sounds fresh and has killer tunes and hooks to sweep you back in as soon as you listen to it. Welcome back guys, we've missed you.

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11.    STEVE CONTE - "The Concrete Jangle"

Steve Conte is one of those musicians who sometimes sail under your radar then suddenly floors you with a killer album when you're least expecting it and The Concrete Jangle is up there with his best. Similar to his other role with Michael Monroe's band, it's simple no frills rock 'n' roll but with an added pop sensibility to really elevate things and a guestlist including Ian Hunter, Glen Matlock, Andy Partridge and Danko Jones. In fact, this may just be his best solo album to date.

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So it's the big one tomorrow as we reveal our Top 10 albums of the year. Looking forward to seeing you then!